Rocking My Life Away: Writing about Music and Other Matters

Anthony DeCurtis

Published by Duke University Press 1998

Rocking My Life Away

Writing about Music and Other Matters

Anthony DeCurtis

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822397922

Overview
Contents

About this book

Rocking My Life Away represents nearly twenty years of writing by one of the premier critics of popular music in America today. In these pieces from Rolling Stone, the New York Times, and other publications, Anthony DeCurtis reveals his ongoing engagement with rock & roll as artistic forum, source of personal inspiration, and compelling site of cultural struggle. Including significant new work—liner notes commissioned for the Phil Spector box set and a spirited discussion with Peter Buck of R.E.M. about rock criticism, for example—DeCurtis also ventures with insight and power beyond the world of rock & roll. A joint profile of the political writers Neil Sheehan and Taylor Branch and provocative looks at the work of novelists Don DeLillo and T. Coraghessan Boyle round out this eclectic collection.

Author / Editor information

Anthony DeCurtis is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, where he worked on staff for nine years as a writer and editor. He worked for a year (1995) as an on-air correspondent and editorial director at VH1, was the popular music critic for “Weekend All Things Considered” on National Public Radio from 1991 to 1995, and has written for a wide range of periodicals, including the New York Times, USA Today, and Vibe. He coedited The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll and The Rolling Stone Album Guide and edited Present Tense: Rock & Roll and Culture, also published by Duke University Press. DeCurtis received the 1988 Grammy Award in the “Best Album Notes” category and has three times received ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for excellence in writing about music. He is also a member of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Reviews

“Rocking My Life Away is a fan’s notes and far more: DeCurtis’s erudite prose combines passionate thinking about popular culture and an informed feel for what moves us at the most personal level. It is a highly satisfying collection.”—Barbara O’Dair, Editor of Us Magazine and the Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock

“Anthony DeCurtis writes about rock music with no agenda but alerting his readers to what’s good and trying to get at the truth about it. He’s an intellectual with the common touch and a fan with a rare gift for articulating the emotional reactions many of us experience but few can put into words. Having the best of DeCurtis in one volume is a great and overdue pleasure.”—Bill Flanagan, Editorial Director, VH1

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
The Classics
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/The Beatles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Plastic Dno Band/John Lennon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	6
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" /The Rolling Stones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
Exile on Main Street/The Rolling Stones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
Blood on the Tracks/Bob Dylan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
Bob Dylan's Blue Highways: The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
It's a Thursday Night in Athens, Georgia
The Athens Scene Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
R.E.M.'s Brave New World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
Rock Criticism and the Rocker: A Conversation With Peter Buck Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
Lives and Deaths
Blues Legends Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
Eric Clapton: A Life at the Crossroads Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
Kurt Cobain: 1967-1994 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
No Mercy: Leonard Cohen's Tales from the Dark Side Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Jerry Garcia: Don't Look Back Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Robyn Hitchcock: A Wry Poet to the Devoted Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
John Lennon: The Man Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
John Mellencamp's Void in the Heartland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
Father of Bluegrass Is Dead at 84: Bill Monroe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
Free at Last Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
Artist of the Year: The Rolling Stones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Phil Spector: Back to Mono (1958-1969) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
Sting Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
10,000 Maniacs Break Loose Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
U2: Zoo World Order Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
Wu-Tang Family Values Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Recordings
The Bristol Sessions: Various Artists Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
Autobiography ofMistachuck: Chuck D Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads and Library of Congress Recordings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Ice-T Fires: Black Rage, Dope Beats Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Flying Cowboys: Rickie Lee Jones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
One From the Heartland: John Cougar Mellencamp's Scarecrow Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Life After Death: The Notorious B.I.G. Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
Graham Parker Squeezes New Sparks: The Mona Lisa's Sister Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Songsfora Blue Guitar: Red House Painters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	216
Their Way: Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
The Dream Fades: Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
New Bruce: Lose Your Illusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
10,000 Maniacs: This Side of Paradise Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
U2: "Zooropa," MonAmour Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
In the Crosshairs
Music's Mean Season Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Opinion: Cop Killer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Opinion: Country Music Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Opinion: Mark David Chapman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
The Next Multiplatinum Cash Cow Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Opinion: Broadway Production of Tommy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
Culture Watch, Culture Wars
I'll Take My Stand: A Defense ofpopular Culture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Anarchy in the U.S.S.R.? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	264
Erotic Terrorism: The Enemy Is Us Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Pop Goes to College Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
Popular Music: Political and Social Realities Can Be Discovered in Serious Criticism of the Medium Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
Postrnodern Romance Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Village Idiots Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	296
Talking Big: Can Eric Bogosian Tune In and Turn On without Selling Out? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	298
A Punk's Past Recaptured: T. Coraghessan Boyle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	302
The Product: Bucky Wunderlick, Rock & Roll, and Don DeLillo's Great Jones Street Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307
Dharma Bums and Other Friends: Ginsberg'S Photos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
An Ambitious History Lesson: Greil Marcus's Lipstick Traces Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
Hot Writers: Neil Sheehan and Taylor Branch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	322
Epilogue: The Naked Transcript Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	332
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	335

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 368

eBook

Published: April 29, 1998
ISBN: 9780822397922